Maruti launches its luxury sedan Maruti Kizashi in India

India's leading car manufacturer Maruti Suzuki India has finally launched its first luxury car Kizashi on February 02, 2011. The luxury sedan comes with introductory price offer of Rs 18 lakhs.

The Kizashi was shown as a concept car at Frankfort Motor Show in 2007 and it took 3+ years for the company to come out with the production version of the D segment car.

A quick look at what Maruti Kizashi has to offer:
- The luxury sedan will be imported from Japan as CBU (Completely Build Unit).
- Kizashi will be available in manual and automatic transmission variants: the manual trany priced @ Rs. 16.5 lakhs and auto trany priced @ Rs. 17.5 lakhs, respectively.
- Kizashi comes just in three color options of snow white pearl, premium silver metallic and super black pearl.
- Kizashi is empowered by a 2393 cc DOHC VVT petrol engine which produces 178 Bhp @6500 rpm and delivers peak torque of 230 Nm @4000 rpm
- Maruti Kizashi comes fitted with safety elements including 6 Airbags (you read that right), ABS and EBD, hill descent contrl and ESP
- The dash of Kizashi comes integrated with MP3 system having 4 speakers (a 425-watt Rockford Fosgate system) which has iPod and Bluetooth connectivity.
- The car features 10-way seat adjustment and dual-zone automatic CCS (climate control system).
- The sedan comes with 17-inch alloy wheels and a funky-looking spoiler integrated to the boot.

Speaking to the media MSIL Managing Director and CEO Shinzo Nakanishi said, "the Kizashi is a major step forward for Maruti Suzuki. With the launch of this luxurious sporty sedan, the company is able to offer an international car to top-end customers in India."

Top speed achievable by Kizashi is 205 to 215 kmph for the 6-speed auto and the 6-speed manual transmission variants.



Company also claims fuel efficiency of 12.53 kmpl for the auto trany variant and 12.45 kmpl for manual variant. Maruti reports that bookings for the Kizashi have started and the company would be delivering the cars come March.

Maruti Kizashi is pitted against top end cars including Honda Accord, Toyota Camry, Skoda Laura and VW Jetta.

The largest car maker also has plans to launch a Swift new version as well as diesel version of SX4 in 2011. While Baleno and SX4 are entry level luxury sedans, the Kizashi offers much more for the premium class buyers.